Monday, August 23, 2010

A Weekend Recap

This weekend was full of good times, great laughs, and even greater food.  My best friend Jenny of 21 years and her boyfriend, David, flew in around midnight on Friday night.  I was so excited for their arrival, I had coffee at night just so I can stay up past midnight.  We spent all of Saturday together to show them the essence of Seattle.  I always love it when out of towners visit, because it gives me the opportunity to see Seattle for what she really is.  We take it for granted sometimes of the city we live in, because we avoid touristy spots.  But showing people around gives us a chance to visit these places again.

Here's Jenny and I on top of the hill before we walked down to the Pike Place Market.  It started out being a pretty cloudy day but it soon cleared up and the forecast hung around in the low to mid 70's.  It was perfect!

Here's the cute couple...Jenny with David.

A pretty famous landmark at the Market is what we call "The Gum Wall".  It's this alley way (in Post Alley for those of you that know the area) and the walls in this alley are covered with chewed up gum!!!  It's kind of gross when you think about it, but interesting.  Can you see it behind us?  Ahh...only in Seattle!

One of the best things to buy at the Market are flowers!  We saw these beautiful yellow spider mums and Chris couldn't resist from snapping some pics.

I'm really not sure what I'm doing here but thought I'd include this.

For lunch, we went to a place called Matt's in the Market.  Boy was it good!  Chris had the sloppy joe with an egg on top!

I had the pork belly banh mi.  A banh mi is a vietnamese style sandwich usually sold in Vietnamese and pho restaurants.  They're typically made of bbq'd pork or chicken, but Matt's added a twist and decided to stuff this puppy with fatty pork belly.  It's not the wisest thing to eat one week before the wedding, but it was OH SO GOOD!

For dinner, we went to a local Mexican place in the Ballard neighborhood called La Carte de Oxaca.  It's one of the best hole in the wall Mexican restaurants out there and here we are, waiting for our table while dunking down some margheritas.  This bartender literally fills the glass up with tequila before splashing just a dribble of sweet and sour.  A couple of these and I felt grrrrrrreat!!!

What's the best breakfast/brunch food after drinks the night before?  Pho of course!  The next morning before driving Jenny and David to pick up their rental car, we stopped by our favorite Pho place, Thanh Brother's.

Here's my bowl...red as usual.  I like it hottttt!

This was my OOTD Sunday for pho and running other errands.  Sorry it's hard to see, but while walking around Saturday, Jenny talked me into getting a pair of classic Tom's.  And might I say that these are one of the best purchases ever made!  Not only is it for a good cause (they donate a pair of shoes for every pair you buy), they are also so comfortable.  It's so breathable so for those of us that have feet that sweat easily (sorry TMI???), it's a great closed toe shoe...especially living in Seattle.

Jenny and I got the memo and matched in flannel.  Maybe it was her tribute to being in the Pacific Northwest...thinking that we are all flannel and birkenstock wearing hippies!  :)

After Pho, Jenny and David picked up their car and drove up to Vancouver, BC.  They'll be back in Seattle Thursday for our rehearsal dinner and wedding the rest of the week.

Speaking of rehearsal dinner, stay tuned for tomorrow's special edition.  I'll reveal what I'm wearing for the dinner which will take place this Thursday!

Have a wonderful night!!!!

16 comments:

  1. I love love LOVE Pho! Mmmm and garden rolls.... I could eat like 50 garden rolls at a time :)

    And I love the plaid!

    I'm happy to hear we were twins today :)

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  2. Gosh, I soooo want to take a trip to Seattle. I'm usually there every August, but this year I'm trapped working :( All the food looks great, and wow the anticipation of the rehearsal dress... can't wait to see your pick.

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  3. Oh, I looove that mexican place! I've heard good things about Matt's too but haven't ever tried it. I like the flannel!

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  4. Robin - Ooh Vietnamese spring rolls are the best and I can eat 50 of those too a long with the sweet duck dipping sauce. I also like the fried eggrolls with the fish sauce. I just love Vietnamese food in general. Haha.

    Cat - Aww...August is such a great time to be in Seattle. It's not too hot or cold. I love it. I can't wait for your next trip here so we can meet up and go to Anthro together.

    LC - You'll have to try that place. Don't let the line discourage you because it goes really fast. And when you're there, you have to get the margarita!!

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  5. It sounds like you had a wonderful time with Jenny and David. So glad that you had some quality time with them before the wedding.

    And your TOMS are adorable -- my brothers wear them all the time, but I haven't taken the plunge yet. I might need to rectify that!

    Looking forward to hearing more about the rehearsal dinner.

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  6. Love your top and I keep waiting and waiting to get some Toms. Not sure why I'm just having issue paying so much for canvas shoes, even though I fully support the cause. I'm sorry - but the gum wall? eeeeewwwww! lol! As long as my hair stayed a few feet away I guess I could deal. Looks like a great weekend!

    xx Vivian @ http://diamondsandtulle.blogspot.com

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  7. I've never been to the Pacific NW and the BF and I were just talking a few nights ago how we need to go to sometime and visit Seattle, Portland, Vancouver. We had a bunch of friends move up to Seattle in the last year (seriously, five different friends) so we're running out of excuses to not visit!

    Glad you all had a blast this weekend eating some delish food, having some fun and catching up!

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  8. Looks like you had a wonderful weekend!! I love the picture recap - you have totally talked me into visiting the Pacific NW sometime!! :)
    Love those TOMS on you & so glad you enjoyed a delicious margarita...a girl after my own heart! ;)

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  9. Sounds like a spectacular weekend with lovely sites (er, maybe minus the gum wall ;)), great food, and wonderful friends.

    I've always felt that the Pacific NW was my kind of place, but still, I have never been there. I want to make a trip soon! If I do, it would be fun to meet you and your soon to be hubby.

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  10. All wonderful memories, Cindi. May you have more frequent moments like these with your friend :).

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  11. umm, I don't like sloppy joes or eggs and that sandwich looks amazing!

    I want to visit Seattle so bad - it's on the top of my lists...it's just difficult to get to from St. Louis (a lot of connections...and it's one of the longest flights for us! I think flying to Mexico is shorter!)

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  12. :D I love banh mi!
    Also, it's funny because I recently went to Chicago and the person who showed us around said the same thing, about how it was really nice to see the city, even if the places are touristy. He said it made him fall in love with the city all over again (:

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  13. Jamie - I didn't used to care for Tom's before I got those wedges that Cat wears all the time. Then I realized how comfortable they were and OMG, I'm a changed woman!

    Vivian - I always think of it as buying 2 for 1...since they give away a pair. Haha...so one for $22 is not bad! Also, the soles of these shoes are very well made, they are so supported and comfortable.

    Lisa - It'd be great to do a PNW tour and then drive up to BC. It'd be fun to compare all three cities since a lot of people say we're very similar. Haha maybe I even know some of your friends. :)

    Erin - Please come and visit. We can go out on a run together and then do brunch before we stop at Anthro. Haha!

    Liz - I think the Northwest would suit you very well too. It's really laid back and some of the suburbs have great school systems! :)

    Sydney - Thank you! I had so much fun spending time with Jenny and David and don't really want their trip to end.

    Ashley - I love a well cooked egg on any sandwich! But man that is a long flight! I remember flying from Seattle to STL to visit Jenny before too and it was a long one.

    Cindy - I love Chicago!!! I think we take our own cities and towns for granted a lot of times. Whenever we get guests they always are in awe of our trees and I never really notice them. Also, Jenny commented about how our streets and our lane reflectors work really well. I never even thought of that! :)

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  14. You look like you had a wonderful weekend. I'm sure it was great to relax a bit and hang out with friends before the wedding week:)

    Your food pics are making me so hungry..yum! I had crispy pork belly tacos last night. Ohmygosh...they were sooo good!

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  15. I swear, the more photos you take of Seattle, the more I want to visit! I really never had the desire before either. Well, of course not before Edward Cullen. Hahaha! Just kidding (kind of).

    All that food looks yummo and the margaritas - delicious! Crazy, but I just had my first margarita about a month ago and was shocked at what i had been missing all this time. I hate Tequila so naturally I stayed away from drinks that included it.

    And of course I have to comment on the Tom's - I've been planning on getting them for the whole fam this fall, so it's good to hear that they're comfy! Thanks for the unintended review :)

    AND!!! Glad you had fun with Jenny. You two look adorable in your plaid get-ups!

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  16. oh, I'll have one bowl of everything you showed! IT LOOKS SO YUMMY!!!

    it sounds like you all had such a wonderful time. I love to be a tourist in my own city when out of towners visit.

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